Competition as a four letter word
An article in the Boston Globe (the link dies tomorrow) by Keith Reed reports that Song, Delta’s budget branch, is installing high-end entertainment systems on its planes. JetBlue is about to start serving the same market:
Yet neither carrier will admit that they are headed toward direct competition on price or amenities here, even as they head for a duel of one-upmanship with their entertainment offerings.
“It isn’t that Song and JetBlue are coming into Boston to compete,” said Tim Mapes, Song’s managing director of marketing. “We’re simply making sure that we’ve got a mix of products that people want.
Since when is it bad for companies to admit that they’re competing? Because competition implies a finite market? Whom do they think they’re kidding? Or did the hippies finally win?
Because they’re trying to avoid the horse-race master narrative, to channel Jay Rosen.
If I see Song as “that airline that’s competing with JetBlue”, then every time I am thinking about booking a flight with Song, I’m going to check out JetBlue as well.
Do Song and JetBlue book their flights on the same reservation system that all the major airlines and travel agents use? That system is ancient (pre-relational-databases), mainframe-based, and expensive. If an airline stayed outside that system (cf. airkiosk.com) and managed to bring in customers nevertheless, it would save a heap of costs … and customers would have a harder time comparing its prices with the prices of its competitors.